When you leave the site

Being mainly used to Caravans, When staying on a site for say a week and we want to go out for the day we just leave any  stuff we dont want with us in the Awning of the Van. Obviously we cant do this with a motor home as we possibly wont have an awning and the motor home will be with us. I was wondering what people do to leave stuff such as a bike BBQ etc. I was thinking some sort of small tent but the site might charge extra for that. Then there is or course the question of security. I wonder what people do in this regard

Thanks

Dennis

Club sites don't charge for pup tents (or utility tent) as long as they fit on your pitch. We used to use one to leave chairs in. We now use bag chairs and take them with us together with our hook up cable (too expensive and inconvenient to lose). We leave our waste water carrier (I know lots don't use a separate tank) and our ramps together with a 'pitch in use' marker.

We leave nothing unless on EHU which is rare for us, so the cable stays. My view is you got it there so it can go in the van, doesn't have to be that tidy, we also leave all curtains/blinds closed when away as well.
In reality if you're of the bad peoples way of thinking, a small tent which clearly isn't being used for sleeping is a useful advert its full of expensive toys!!!

If not using them, we chain the bikes securely - if there's something appropriate to which to fix them. That apart, everything else goes back in the van, for day trips away from the site. 

Cymro

When we had our first van, which was quite small (Talbot based Camelot) and our daughter was still a child so we had lots of paraphernalia, we had a free standing drive-away awning which was used to store all the kit, which also kept it dry.  When leaving the site, we would just thread padlock and chains through the large items - bikes, barbecue, chairs, coolbox, etc. and zip it all up. We did this on club sites and commercial sites and never had any issues with theft, although this was twenty to thirty years ago.

Nowadays it's just the two of us and we've learned to leave at home things that aren't essential  and we have a larger van, plus a backbox, so we can pack everything on board more easily. Also now we tend to move sites more often, seldom staying in one place for more than a few days, so the effort of erecting anything freestanding wouldn't be worth it.

You may find it takes a wee while to get used to the transition from a caravan to a motorhome but you'll soon work out what's worth lugging around with you and what isn't.

Mostly, if it's outside already, it gets left on the pitch. So, table, chairs, ramps, EHU cable, etc. 

The only thing we'd secure would be our bikes.

We have a site occupied sign but to be honest it is rarely used as we still tend to use the van like our previous caravans and not take it off site.  We travel from the site by foot, bike and public transport where available.  When we do this, we leave the chairs etc outside the van (we don't have a zip up awning or pup tent) and feel that they like the EHU cable which is attached to the van are perfectly secure.  Security is more of an issue when the van is left off site which is partly why to date we have limited this to short supermarket shops and visits to NT properties which we tend to do when moving between sites.  A consequence of all this is that we stay on sites for shorter periods than we did with the caravan and move on every few days.

We leave nothing behind if we're on a site that has designated pitches. The site operatives know what's available to anyone who arrives while we're out for the day.
However if we're on a site that doesn't designate pitches on arrival, common abroad where you're often left to drive around till you find somewhere suitable, we leave something cheap behind, maybe a folding step or doormat.
I wouldn't leave the EHU cable as I know of folk who have had them nicked.
Al.

Pitch reserved sign for us cost about eight of your finest British pounds if I remember, everything else we take although we do have a piece of gash orange rope which we use as a pitch marker in undesignated places. If it gets stolen really nothing lost!

Away in the C&MC rules and regs there is a requirement to provide a pitch occupied sign if leaving for a day out.  Honoured more in the breach than observance I suspect.  I have two of these signs, my own original and one left by the previous owner in the van so at least two of use use them :-)

Especially useful on commercial sites where on arrival one is told to 'drive round and find a pitch you like and come back and tell us which one'.  Have to admit in recent times with full sites this has probably not happened much but it used to.

Tony Comber

Thanks for the replies. We are intending to take blow up canoes and a reasonably large inflatable boat and outboard. This is the setup we take with the Caravan. We will carry the boat in a back rack on the tow hitch. It is the outboard and Petrol tank that I dont want to cart about all the time.

To give you an idea of the setup here is a short video of the little boat on Ullswater this year. We still have the Caravan by the way and will be keeping that for longer trips.

Weegie wrote:Mostly, if it's outside already, it gets left on the pitch. So, table, chairs, ramps, EHU cable, etc. 

I do this too.

I also leave the waste master and aqua roll there too, as you say, it's an outdoor item.

groundhog wrote:Pitch reserved sign for us cost about eight of your finest British pounds if I remember, everything else we take although we do have a piece of gash orange rope which we use as a pitch marker in undesignated places. If it gets stolen really nothing lost!

I have heard that the pitch reserved signs sometimes go missing! I intend to get one though.

v8oholic wrote:

groundhog wrote:Pitch reserved sign for us cost about eight of your finest British pounds if I remember, everything else we take although we do have a piece of gash orange rope which we use as a pitch marker in undesignated places. If it gets stolen really nothing lost!

I have heard that the pitch reserved signs sometimes go missing! I intend to get one though.

I make my own.
Print a motorhome picture with my reg no. on a piece of A4, once on bottom half and again on top half upside down then laminate, cover back with carpet tape, lay a metal peg down the middle and fold in half. I also made one with just the wording "This pitch is reserved for motorhome" in several languages for continental use. Very cheap to make and replace if left behind by mistake. 

PS Just located a pic:

We leave a plastic bucket with the words 'Reserved & Reg No' on one side and 'FIRE' on the other, filled with water,

We have a small 4x3 trailer which we pull behind our Symbol. Shoes tables and chairs etc. go into this which gives
more space if we drive out for the day. The trailer goes by the side of the motorhome when on site.
It has a lock on the draw bar hopefully to prevent it going away without us. It has a waterproof cover with elastic straps.
This is also our pitch marker when out.
That's the good news the bad news is with one site we were going to book next year and I said about the trailer the reply
was that will be £3 each night and £5 in high season.
Not going there.
Malc.

malc45 wrote:We have a small 4x3 trailer which we pull behind our Symbol. Shoes tables and chairs etc. go into this which gives
more space if we drive out for the day. The trailer goes by the side of the motorhome when on site.
It has a lock on the draw bar hopefully to prevent it going away without us. It has a waterproof cover with elastic straps.
This is also our pitch marker when out.
That's the good news the bad news is with one site we were going to book next year and I said about the trailer the reply
was that will be £3 each night and £5 in high season.
Not going there.
Malc.

So how would the total pitch cost have compared with a booking for a four wheel drive vehicle and huge caravan?  

Common sense seems to go out the window on some sites where motorhomes are concerned - and that includes the Clubs!

I have a 2.5metre sq detached day tent from Decathlon £99, that weighs 6.8kg. Easy to erect and take down. Leave table, chairs and bikes inside overnight or when weather is wet

I have a sign to leave behind when going off site which we do rarely as we move on frequently.  I can't recall exactly what it says, possibly 'space reserved' or similar. It was printed at home, laminated and ties around a small traffic cone I keep in the locker for use in the event of a breakdown.  Otherwise, I leave nothing else on site.  The light-fingered fraternity tend to be everywhere - and they do not necessarily have to be fellow motorhomers or caravaners.  On most club sites I've stayed on, anyone can enter not only via the main gate (where the wardens might be expected to keep an eye open) but through any number of pedestrian access points around the perimeter.

We travel light but in the unlikely event we need to take the van out I leave the ramps behind. 
Rich..

Duplicate post, what happened there?

The total cost for the pitch a car and caravan was the same as for the motorhome but with the 
trailer I take made it that much more.
Malc.